The orbital dynamics of the three inner Galilean satellites
Io, Europa and Ganymede are driven by resonant locks, which
maintain the satellites' orbital eccentricities over long
periods of time. The resulting tidal forces tend to
circularize their orbits and to drive them out of resonance.
This is counterbalanced by torques exerted on the satellites
by Jupiter. As another consequence of the resonance locking,
orbital energy gained by the satellites (especially by Io as
the closest to Jupiter) is shared among all three
satellites. Dissipation of orbital energy due to tidal
friction is an important internal heat source and provides a
coupling between the thermal and orbital evolutions of the
satellites. The dissipation rate in an individual satellite,
here parameterized by the imaginary part of the tidal Love
number k2 using a Maxwell rheology model, depends on the
orbital parameters, on the structure of the satellite, and
on the viscosities and shear moduli of its viscoelastic
layers. The viscosities and the shear moduli are taken to be
temperature dependent. The occurrence of partial melt in
Io's silicate layer and the existence of a sub-surface ocean
on Europa, which decouples the dissipative ice layer from
the interior, will have a strong influence on the
dissipation rates and thus on the orbital evolution.\\ We
discuss the distribution of orbital and thermal energy
between the satellites during their evolution in the Laplace
resonance while focusing on Europa. Possible oscillations of
the orbital elements of Europa will be shown to cause
oscillations in tidal dissipation rate and ice shell
thickness. Variations of the latter will have a feedback
effect on the dissipation rate and thus on the orbital
evolution of the satellites. We speculate that particular
surface features on Europa may be interpreted as remnants of
differing phases of tidal dissipation. For instance,
Lenticulae could have formed at times when the ice shell was
thick enough (several tens of kilometers) to allow
convection and uprising plumes while chaos terrain may have
formed when the ice was thin.